• Songs
  • new Kicksville tune: Nameless Jack
2014/09/18 14:38:13
kicksville
Howdy y'all -
 
Here's this week's Kicksville release, Nameless Jack: https://kicksville.bandcamp.com/track/nameless-jack
 
The "official" story: the lyrics Andy Ewen wrote for this tune are a memorial to a young man who used to come see Andy play with his band, Honor Among Thieves. "Jack" was a bit confused, always searching for meaning in his life, and he ultimately found it in a very dark place.

The real story: Andy wanted us to be circumspect about it, but this forum is enough off the beaten path that I don't think he'll mind me explaining. To me, the story is what frames the lyrics....otherwise, they don't make much sense.

The deal is, the guy we're calling Jack ended up joining the Heaven's Gate cult, and offed himself along with the rest of 'em. So the line, "Lifted from the ground" and all that is Jack headed up to meet the aliens on the other side of the Hale-Bopp comet. Sorta gives the lyrics a different connotation, y'know?

There you have it.... Enjoy!

cheers
2014/09/18 18:03:31
Guitarpima
Very cool groove!
 
I didn't see the lyrics the last time. With the explanation, the lyrics make more sense. I love the bass line the most in the song. The whole song is good but being a bass player originally, I like good bass lines.
2014/09/19 14:25:25
stevec
Another off-kilter song, huh...   Cool.  
 
Interesting arrangement/instrumentation, nice mix, lyrics and vocals work well.  I like the double-time almost gospel-y parts - apropos.
 
2014/09/19 14:50:08
jamesg1213
Brilliant song, I love it.
 
'Inappropriate tambourine'..that's my kind of funny.
2014/09/19 16:11:20
kicksville
Gitpima - thanks! yep, that's my trusty Pedulla Pentabuzz doing its thing Being founded by me and another bass player, Kicksville is sort of a playground for us. This one's fairly straightforward (but fun), but for example, last week's release, Love Song, has 8 unique interlocking bass parts. Talk about a tricky mix....
 
Steve - thanks again, and if you think this one is off-kilter, wait till next week's release, Bread Knife Bill!
 
James - thank you too, and glad you enjoyed it (and the credits)! Tone Deaf is kind of inappropriate in a good way on a regular basis....we try to get him to stick to his spoken word bits, but every once in a while when we're not looking, he gets his hands on a tambourine.
 
cheers
2014/09/20 09:02:06
Wookiee
The mix seems work well here, interesting vocal effect almost like you are singing through a megaphone, not that that is a bad thing.
 
Thanks for sharing.
2014/09/20 09:50:58
bapu
One small crit: Lyrics are in sync with the song. Not that it's "needed" I was cornfused for about 30 seconds.
 
Nice mix. Great backing tracks. Vocal performance was cool.
2014/09/20 20:35:47
kicksville
Wookiee - thanks for checking this one out, too, and glad you liked it! The vocal effect is Camel Audio's good ol' freebie, the CamelCrusher. Love that thing.... Normally when we want the lofi'd vocal thing, I use a Shure 527B (like we did on Love Song, last week's release). On this tune, we had tracked the vocals clean, and it wasn't till the mix that I decided it should be dirtied up...so out came The Crusher.
 
Bapu - thanks for the kind words! I'm a little cornfused myself though.... Did you mean you thought the vocals were *not* in sync? Being "in sync" doesn't sound like a crit to me - sounds like a good thing
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